


Lost and Found

by ladythistlewaite



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: AU, Fluff, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-24
Updated: 2016-05-24
Packaged: 2018-06-10 12:29:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6956503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladythistlewaite/pseuds/ladythistlewaite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alternate Universe in which AoU never happened, and Bucky ends up living in the Avengers Tower whilst recovering from Hydra's control.</p><p>No-one is entirely sure when the cat appeared in the avengers tower. All they know is that it has proved hilarious to watch everyone try to get it out from its hiding place under the sofa.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lost and Found

Nobody was entirely sure when the kitten turned up at the Avengers Tower. It just appeared one day: a dark smudge that spent most of its time glowering and occasionally swiping at people from under the sofa.

‘What exactly are you doing Natasha?’ asked Steve from the kitchen counter one day, watching as she crouched on the sofa with her head dangling over the front.

‘Come on kitty,’ she said warmly, making soothing sounds through her lips, ‘come on out here’.

Steve raised an eyebrow at the sight. He padded across and sat in one of the chairs opposite, cupping his coffee in one hand.

‘Why don’t you sit in front of the sofa to try that?’ he asked.

She flicked her head upwards to look at him, ‘ Tried that already. It’s… remarkably quick.’  
She held out her arms, which looked like they had been half scratched to pieces. Steve’s eyes widened.  
‘What did you do to it?’  
He’d seen Nat fight, and almost nothing and no one could get close to her. To imagine that a cat could cause so much damage was nothing short of alarming.  
‘I didn’t do anything! I just sat there,’ she pointed to her usual spot in front of the sofa, ‘ and it somehow took offence to that.’

‘Are you still trying to get the bundle of knives out from under the sofa?’ muttered Clint as he stode across the room and dropped his bow on the table, before pouring himself some coffee.

Nat pulled a face at him, ‘Just because you don’t like cats doesn’t mean it’s nice to call it a ‘bundle of knives.’

‘Really? So the tic tac toe grids on your arms had nothing to do with that thing then.’

Clint ducked behind the counter as a cushion sailed past his head, missing his hearing aid by a hair’s breadth. Clint peeked out from the side of the counter, holding the cushion like a shield.

‘Why don’t you try then if you think it’s so easy!’ Nat scowled mutinously.

When he was sure she wouldn’t throw anything else at him, Clint stood slowly and shook his head, ‘ No way. I saw what that fur-ball did to Tony when he went near it yesterday.’

Nat and Steve exchanged a glance then looked back at Clint.

‘What… exactly did it do?’ Steve asked, putting his cup down on the glass coffee table. Clint grinned and pulled out his phone.  
‘Watch this.’

Nat and Steve wandered over to the counter where he stood and gathered around the phone. He flicked his thumb across the screen, selected a video, and pressed play. The three of them watched as on the small screen Tony reached gingerly under the sofa, then suddenly jerked back and swore as the kitten ripped ribbons into his flesh.

‘May I make a suggestion, Sir’  
‘Go for it JARVIS’  
‘This may be a time when your latest suit might come in handy, would you like to use it?’  
‘Only the arms, JARVIS, I don’t think the rest is really needed, it’s only a AARGH!’  
From his place crouched on the floor, the cat had stealthily crawled out behind him and swept at Tony’s legs from behind, slicing through the bottoms of his slacks and digging into the calves beneath, before shooting back under the sofa to its habitual hiding place.

‘On second thoughts JARVIS, perhaps I will use the whole suit.’

‘Hang on, there’s more,’ said Clint, skipping further through the video.

The next section showed Tony in his full armour, barring the helmet, reaching once again under the sofa.

‘Heeeeeeeeeerrre kitty kitty kitty, OW!!’ the billionaire called, before once again swearing as the lights in his suit appeared to flicker.  
‘JARVIS what the hell was that!’ his panic cry came.  
‘I do believe, sir, that the kitten has severed several of the major power lines within the suit and found one of the, ah, weaker parts of the shell.’ replied the computer.  
‘This suit is bulletproof JARVIS – there aren’t any weak points.’  
‘With all due respect sir, it may be bulletproof, but it does not appear to be entirely catproof.’  
Tony appeared to get a slight electric shock from his suit, and once again swore, before stomping away with all of the grace of a bad-tempered four-year-old.

‘Now that,’ gasped Nat between laughing fits, ‘ was hilarious.’

‘How long have you been videoing us around the tower?’ asked Steve, his eyebrow raised once again.

Clint’s face turned into a practised mask of innocence which looked remarkably like it had been learned from Nat. ‘ Only since everyone tried to get the cat out. Why? Is there more I should be filming?’

Steve’s face turned very slightly pinker and he looked away towards Bucky’s room. Truth be told, he wasn’t sure how Bucky was doing. He still wasn’t communicating much, although at least he seemed to have been eating, as Steve had found half-eaten pieces of food stashed in various places around Bucky’s bedroom. He frowned.

Clint followed his gaze.

‘Hey,’ he said, putting a hand on Steve’s shoulder, ‘He’ll get there. It’s just gonna take some more time.’

Steve nodded and grimaced slightly, before putting his cup in the dishwasher and heading off to his own quarters.

***

The next morning Steve came to get breakfast to find Nat and Clint giggling over the phone again. As he came in, Nat waved him over, and pointed to the screen.

‘Look! This is from about five minutes ago. I heard someone cursing like a sailor so I thought I’d check what the camera had picked up.’

‘Do you just leave your phone set to record all day or something Clint?’ he asked, only for Nat to shush him again and point.

On the screen, Bruce was wandering around the room, a book in one hand and a cup of tea in the other. He walked across to the cat’s sofa, and sat down.  
‘Wait for it...’ whispered Nat.

Banner yelled in the video and jumped up swearing as a yowling came from under the sofa. His tea had formed a dark stain over his shirt and pants. He looked like a disgruntled owl as his eyes darted around the room and he muttered under his breath, before disappearing off the screen.

There were tears in Nat’s eyes as she giggled, and Clint roared at the video. Steve even had to admit that it was pretty funny to watch. As they stood sniggering, they heard a mutinous muttering from the hallway. 

‘I’m gonna go shoot stuff.’ Clint said, smirking as he disappeared off. Just as he left, Bruce appeared, in clothes that were definitely not what he had been wearing before. Nat’s infamous mask of innocence took over her features and Steve had to avoid her eyes to stop himself from smiling.

‘Morning Banner!’ she smiled as Bruce walked over to the counter, ‘Tea?’

***

It must have been around 4pm when Steve’s cellphone buzzed. He had been doodling, nothing important really – just a sketch of the Howling Commandos. They were all smiling – He’d been remembering the good times they had when they had been posted to London for a bit of down time between missions. It was one of those fantastic evenings that he would never be able to forget: Duggan had made some remark about something, and Peg’s retort had shocked him so much that his omnipresent cigar had fallen clean out of his mouth. He finished filling in the laughter lines around Buck’s eyes before picking up the phone.

‘Keep Quiet. Come to the lounge area now. Nx’

He frowned, and picked up his shield. With all the stealth he could muster, he opened his door and tiptoed down the hall. As he moved, he could hear a voice crooning softly in some language he didn’t quite recognise – Russian, he guessed. Between the words he could hear a sound like a very muffled machine gun. From his position, with his back flat against the wall, he glanced into the living area. Mostly, he could only really see the kitchen, where he noticed Nat crouched behind the kitchen counter and raised an eyebrow at her. Silently she raised a finger to her lips and pointed to the sofa.

Steve slowly manoeuvred so that he could see the rest of the living room, and was instantly taken aback by the sight that reached his eyes. Bucky was curled up in a ball on the sofa with a bundle of very dirty fluff in his arms. It seemed almost as if the two were having a conversation. The cat purred for a while and then Bucky would respond. Whenever the cat started to get a little agitated, Bucky began to sing, his voice rough, but still tuneful. A small pile of stale food seemed to be sat on the table, and Bucky seemed to be alternately taking a bite himself, and feeding a little of it to the black mass in his arms.

As Steve watched, dumbfounded, Nat silently crept over to where he stood.

‘He’s calling her Katriana,’ she murmured, ‘You know how he disappeared a few weeks ago whilst we were battling the fire in the apartment block over on the other side of Brooklyn?’

Steve nodded and glanced over to Bucky, ‘It wasn’t far from where we grew up.’

Nat smiled, ‘ So I heard. He was talking to the cat about it. Oh and by the way, I’ve found out why she’s so… territorial. We’re about to have a few more furballs flying around the place.’

Steve gave her a quizzical look. 

‘What do you mean?’

‘Kittens.’

‘Oh.’ Steve’s eyes widened, ‘ Oh.’

Nat smiled, and walked away, leaving Steve to watch as Bucky tended the expectant cat, the sound of his crooning in the air.


End file.
